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Phenomena

The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations Into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis

The definitive history of the military's decades-long investigation into mental powers and phenomena, from the author of Pulitzer Prize finalist The Pentagon's Brain and international bestseller Area 51. This is a book about a team of scientists and psychics with top secret clearances.

For more than forty years, the U.S. government has researched extrasensory perception, using it in attempts to locate hostages, fugitives, secret bases, and downed fighter jets, to divine other nations' secrets, and even to predict future threats to national security. The intelligence agencies and military services involved include CIA, DIA, NSA, DEA, the Navy, Air Force, and Army-and even the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Now, for the first time, New York Times bestselling author Annie Jacobsen tells the story of these radical, controversial programs, using never before seen declassified documents as well as exclusive interviews with, and unprecedented access to, more than fifty of the individuals involved. Speaking on the record, many for the first time, are former CIA and Defense Department scientists, analysts, and program managers, as well as the government psychics themselves.

Who did the U.S. government hire for these top secret programs, and how do they explain their military and intelligence work? How do scientists approach such enigmatic subject matter? What interested the government in these supposed powers and does the research continue? Phenomena is a riveting investigation into how far governments will go in the name of national security.

Staying focused on only U.S. government projects to investigate and utilize ESP and psychokinesis created a page-turner. All the events visited are front-pagers, from WW2 to the moon landing, to the Arab-Israeli conflict, to hostage crises, etc. Pulitzer Prize nominee Annie Jacobsen combed a myriad of declassified material and gives us a balanced history of material that tends to polarize nearly everyone who hears about it. The events often create only believers and non-believers, but this book stays balanced. We get as complete a tour as possible unless some material still classified could be added. In the conclusion, the present years, Annie Jacobsen manages to wrap it up with a convincing conclusion.